Women’s Basketball outpaces East Texas Baptist, 88-76

Nov 20, 2009

BSC vs. East Texas Baptist Box Score
Huntingdon vs. Rust Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Four different Panthers scored in double digits as the Birmingham-Southern women’s basketball defeated East Texas Baptist University, 88-76, Friday evening in Bill Battle Coliseum in game one of the 2009 Sheraton Birmingham Classic. The Panthers move to 2-0, while ETBU falls to 0-1 in its season opener.

The Lady Tigers jumped out to a 7-0 lead to open the game, and kept the lead for most of the first half, leading by as much as eight, 22-14, at the 9:22 mark. The Panthers finally tied things up, 27-27, at the 5:06 mark before taking their first lead of the game on a free throw by sophomore Ashton Spurgin, the first point of a 10-0 run by BSC to put the Panthers up 37-27 with 2:44 left in the half. ETBU came back to cut the lead to three, 42-39, at the half.

BSC opened the second half with a 9-0 run to go up by 12, 51-39, and hung on to a double-digit lead until the Lady Tigers cut it to nine, 56-47, at the 12:17 mark, then eight, 58-50, at the 11:31 mark, and then seven, 75-68, with 4:51 left in the game. ETBU came as close as five, 75-70, at the 4:12 mark, but BSC responded by going back up by nine and as much as 14, 88-74, down the stretch before winning by 12, 88-76.

Spurgin, who shot 4-of-6 from the field, junior Katelyn Wilson, and freshman Alex Adams all led with 12 points apiece, and sophomore Sam Davidson recorded 10. Adams also led with seven rebounds, Davidson led with four assists, and Wilson led with three steals.

For East Texas Baptist, Satara Harrell and Emily Leek led with 18 points apiece, and Harrell also pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds and recorded six steals. Kelsey Harris led with five assists.

BSC shot 45 percent from the field, 22.2 percent on three-pointers, and 69.8 percent at the free throw line; ETBU shot 35.1 percent overall, 14.3 percent from three-point range, and 71.4 percent at the line. The Lady Tigers out-rebounded the Panthers, 48-45, and committed one more turnover than BSC with 28.

“This was a great team victory tonight,” Head Coach Brad Hodge said. “We got positive contributions from every group that played. It was good for us to see a talented team such as East Texas who applies athletic pressure. Games like this prepare us for conference play. Now we just need to back it up with another good team victory tomorrow against Rust.”

In game two of the Classic, Rust defeated Huntingdon in overtime, 83-82.

Action in the Classic continues tomorrow as East Texas Baptist takes on Huntingdon at 2 p.m., and BSC takes on Rust College at 4 p.m.